You might actually wonder what an 80-year old man might need to see a therapist for since by this age one might reason that everything a person has to worry about might be as close to over and done with as possible since it’s likely that it was left in the past long ago. But the reason that Patrick Stewart still sees a therapist in his twilight years has to do with the trauma he was put through watching his mother being abused by his father when he was a young child. On top of that, he worried for many years that he had the same propensity to abuse those around him when his temper became uncontrollable and therefore dangerous. Those that want to sit and scoff at this might need to read a book or a study and realize that childhood trauma can and does go away, but it’s not a one hundred percent guaranteed thing. If that was the case then a cure for PTSD might have already been found and many upon many military veterans and victims of abuse might be alive or in good health today. The effects of trauma don’t have an expiration date, and those thinking that people can ‘get over it’ aren’t thinking clearly since the truth is that there are those that can work their way past this issue, but it takes time, support, and a great deal of work. Plus, it actually takes the desire to let go of the past.
The thing is, Stewart isn’t just trying to let go of the past, he’s been attempting to keep his rage, inherited from his father, from emerging over the years, as he’s already told of his days as a young student when he was punished without cause by a teacher. He admitted that had he been given the chance, the teacher might not have been walking away. One has to wonder what the teachers were like where he went to school since some of us can probably remember teachers we wouldn’t dare cross. Anyway, all levity aside for the moment, that inner rage that Stewart has felt for so long is something he’s had to bottle up and work through with a therapist, as containing said anger and rage can become increasingly difficult over time. Like it or not, all of us need to vent at times since keeping that bile and anger inside for too long can cause a serious amount of harm to a person’s mind and can affect their health. That inner rage is something that Stewart has had to hold in for fear that he would lash out at the wrong people, such as his kids since he’s admitted that there were times when he had to truly restrain himself.
Faking these emotions is equally dangerous since it becomes tempting to let them run and simply take over, but it would appear that for decades now, Stewart has managed to keep things on an even keel and has used his therapy to help keep himself in check. There are so many things that can be said concerning the effects of rage and unbridled anger that there are library sections that are devoted to this issue and those like it. The fact that Stewart still visits his therapist regularly isn’t a matter of shame or even a suggestion that he can’t control himself, but it is an admission that he wants help, and that he feels comfortable in this manner, talking to someone that can help him work through the issue and keep things as he feels they should be. Anger does serve a purpose, no matter what anyone wants to think, but misguided anger, the type that explodes in all directions and doesn’t worry over collateral damage, is the kind that it would appear that Stewart is afraid of, and he’s right to do so. Even if this isn’t correct, and his anger has a more direct line to those that are in his line of sight, so to speak, he’s still to be commended for not trying to take on this issue on his own, and for doing what he can to make certain that he is still being given the ability to tamp down the anger and control it should those emotions ever threaten to spill out again.
There are various types of anger that many people can attest to, and while some of them are overly destructive as they tempt a person to simply explode on whoever’s near, there are those that are more direct and far more precise, and are far worse since random anger can be a reaction to stress, and therefore isn’t as easy to control at all times. Whatever form his anger takes, Patrick Stewart long ago found a way to help calm himself down, and that’s commendable since lashing out at those around you is rarely ever a good idea.
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